One big domino fell in Major League Baseball free agency, and the Boston Red Sox could have their eyes set on one of the other coveted players on the market.
Shohei Ohtani announced he would sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, and with the New York Yankees trading for Juan Soto during this year's winter meetings, that left other clubs shifting their focus to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Japanese pitcher gained a lot of hype as one of the best pitchers on the market despite only playing in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff will be among multiple teams to meet with Yamamoto this week, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand on Tuesday. The former Orix Buffaloes pitcher already had meetings with both New York clubs and the San Francisco Giants. And Feinsand added that "two or three more teams" will meet with the 25-year-old, including the Toronto Blue Jays, who seemed to land Ohtani before those reports proved to be false.
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The Red Sox have been linked to Yamamoto and the other top pitchers in free agency like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Breslow emphasized a desire to boost Boston's pitching staff, which he had done with multiple trades this offseason, including sending Alex Verdugo to the Yankees.
Boston has a strong history of Japanese pitchers playing for the organization, and Masataka Yoshida is a former teammate of Yamamoto from their time in NPB and on Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.
The "unprecedented" Ohtani deal showed clubs seemingly are willing to do whatever it takes to acquire the top players on the market, so the Red Sox will face stiff competition to secure a player who multiple analysts believe will be successful in his transition from NPB to MLB.
Featured image via Yukihito Taguchi/USA TODAY Sports Images
